IN 1876, KUDZU was introduced into the United States as an attractive and seemingly harmless vine; however, the invasive species has strangled vast territories. A similar invasive species has sprawled throughout the United States federal government: the mass of federal regulatory agencies that we refer to as “the regulatory state.” And— through a sophisticated and comprehensive litigation, research, and education plan—PLF is taking proverbial shears to this unconstitutional mass of government entanglement and dismantling the regulatory state.
Although the original purpose of most federal regulatory agencies was well-intentioned—such as ensuring safe food and working conditions— there is a growing public awareness that regulatory bureaucracies became oppressive and democratically unresponsive. The public’s perception is justified: agency operations frequently violate constitutional rules established by the Framers to make government accountable. New scholarship, media attention, and citizen engagement highlight the threats these regulatory agencies pose to our everyday freedoms and to constitutional government itself.
A Mercatus Center study recently estimated that our lives are now subject to over one million regulatory restrictions, vastly more than the laws written by our elected representatives in Congress. Most Americans cannot keep track of more than a tiny fraction of these regulations, yet they can be prosecuted for breaking them. Of greater concern, agency procedures used to enforce these unknowable rules violate basic due process protections. The courts then compound the problem by unconstitutionally deferring to the factual and legal determinations of agency officials— whose principal allegiance is the perpetuation of agency power.
Understanding these regulatory threats and their unconstitutional foundation is only the first step in ending them. The regulatory state gained strength over a century of incremental growth when misplaced faith in “neutral” experts led our governing class to ignore normal constitutional rules. All three branches of government contributed to the problem, either by delegating or deferring to unconstitutional concentrations of regulatory power.
Is it beyond any control? Happily, there is an ideal—a lodestar—to guide our return to constitutional order. The separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution is the greatest improvement in government since the dawn of democracy. The Framers carefully designed structural barriers and checks on government action to better prevent government oppression and, thus, better preserve individual liberty. Proponents of bureaucratic power intentionally subverted the Constitution’s design. Yet the moral and constitutional high ground is still held by those seeking to restore the original order.
PLF has been the leader in constitutional litigation against regulatory abuse for more than four decades, with an unmatched record of success in the Supreme Court. Formulated over the past year, PLF is now implementing an innovative and strategic battle plan to accelerate the end of the unconstitutional regulatory state.
PLF’s multifaceted initiative combines new types of litigation against an array of agencies and programs with expanded education, legislative action, and social science research. PLF is the leader in thought and action to end the regulatory state and restore government to its proper, constitutional limits. Our strategies will produce tangible results over the next several years, and we will not waver until our vision is fully realized.